08/07/15 Go confidently in the direction of your dreams... As we are finishing up performances of Footloose at The Laguna Playhouse this weekend, I am thankful for a great run! The feeling of closing weekend or the end of a project is always bittersweet and as the old saying goes you try not to be sad it is over but happy it happened. As an actor the fear is always there of what will my next project be and will I ever work again which is ridiculous and I know it, but the thought still lingers. Not only was it closing week but I had an audition for a national tour this past Monday that was awesome and it really paid well would have been perfect for me. I immediately was asked to come back for callbacks on Wednesday and could not have been more thrilled. Before I had even received a response from attending the callbacks. I was offered a contract for the National Tour of Buddy again. What a compliment to be asked back for another National Tour. Then addition I was offered a regional production of Buddy as well! And here we are on Friday where emotions are already running high because of closing weekend and now I have to make these decisions to accept the contracts or not. After long consideration and a phone call to the casting director of the audition/callback awesome project I found out the national tour I really wanted had gone to the other girl. Bummer. (Side note, they had over 2,000 submissions, brought 60 in for auditions and 19 in for callbacks; so that is cool.) And much to my own surprise I ended up turning down both contracts of Buddy. I love the role and have a great time doing the show but have already done it twice, once being a national tour. I feel I need to move on to other shows and other roles. I am also eligible to join Equity and told myself that after Footloose I would join. To sum it up, I had set out to continue to grow and work on projects that I am passionate about and I need to continue to do that and not stifle myself because of what is comfortable. I need to face those fears and take the next steps confidently.